Wireless mobile communication service providers support various mobile communication services including moving image service, voice service, and text messaging service. In text messaging service, a short messaging service (SMS) for transmission of a text message can be used to provide news, weather and stock information.
The SMS provides a bidirectional text messaging service for transmitting and receiving a short text message, even when there is a call in progress between a receiving mobile terminal and another party. The short text message can be transmitted to another party by designating a delayed transmission time using the features available on a sender's terminal.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for delayed transmission of a SMS message in accordance with the related art. As shown, when the mobile terminal is in a primary mode (S10), a user selects a transmission mode by interacting with the mobile terminal's user interface (S20). The user then inputs contact information (e.g., a recipient's phone number) and a text message (S30).
The user may set a delayed transmission time (S40). Once the message input is completed (S50), the message is stored in a memory of the mobile terminal (S60). Then, the mobile terminal's microprocessor compares the current time with the delayed transmission time (S70). Upon expiration of the delayed transmission time, an alarm is generated (S80) and the terminal transmits the corresponding message stored in the memory to the recipient (S90).
In the above-described conventional delayed transmission method, when the terminal is turned off or positioned in a region where mobile communication service is unavailable, the stored message cannot be transmitted. This problem arises because the message is stored locally in the terminal's memory, so if a communication connection is not available the terminal cannot send the stored message.
Systems and methods are needed that can overcome the shortcomings of the related art system.